BOSTON, April 8 -- Gov. Paul Cellucci and
his top education chiefs
called on lawmakers this afternoon to increase or eliminate the cap
on
charter schools, a proposal that has the chairmen of the Education
Committee at odds.
Supporters say charter schools promote innovation and create competition
that catalyzes improvement in the larger public school system.
Opponents
say charter schools siphon off the best students and that the current
funding formula is flawed, draining money from the districts that lose
students and leaving the neediest students to languish.
At the State House, the committee heard numerous charter school-related
bills this afternoon, with the central piece being a proposal, filed
by
co-chairman Sen. Robert Antonioni (D-Leominster), to triple the cap
from
the current 50 to 150 over a five-year period. Of the current
allowed
charters, 43 have been awarded and 34 schools have opened.
The governor proposed eliminating the cap entirely in his budget proposal,
but told members of the Education Committee at a hearing this afternoon
that he supports any "loosening of the binds" on charter schools, such
as
raising the cap.
"The important thing is ... we keep alive the innovative spirit at the
core
of this very successful program," Cellucci said, urging lawmakers to
move
forward quickly. "When you're talking about children's lives
and
children's futures, you can't take the scenic route."
New Education Commissioner David Driscoll and new Board of Education
Chairman James Peyser - recently on opposite sides of the battle to
become
the commissioner of the Department of Education - joined forces to
push for
raising the cap.
Driscoll said there are 8,000 students on waiting lists to get into
charter
schools, and the state is nearing the maximum number of charters allowed
under the law. "I see the fact that we are at the cap and have
waiting
lists to suggest we need to do something," he said.
In 1995, the first year student applications to charter schools were
accepted, DOE received twice as many applications as there were seats,
Peyser said. Last year, applicants outnumbered seats by a six
to one
margin. The number of schools should be expanded to keep the
schools a
dynamic part of the larger system, he said. "If charter schools
become
static, they will be too easy to dismiss or ignore as the larger system
adjusts to the slight shift in the status quo."
Business leaders joined the call for expanding charter schools, saying
the
future of the workforce depends on an educated workforce, which they
claim
the public school system is not producing, but predicted charter schools
could.
John Davis, CEO of American Saw and Manufacturing Co., said his company
relies on "great people" to compete in the global economy. "I
and many
business leaders in the state are beginning to wonder where we will
get
these great people," he said. "We have continued to see a deterioration
in
the quality of the people coming out of our schools."
Under the proposal, the Commonwealth charter school cap would be raised
from 37 to 50 in the first year, and the cap on Horace Mann schools
would
be raised from 13 to 20. Both caps would then be raised by 10
apiece per
year for the next four years, for a total of 90 Commonwealth and 60
Horace
Mann charters.
The state committed to charter schools as an essential part of education
reform, and now lawmakers should allow the commitment to fully pan
out,
Antonioni said. Rather than address the issue in a "piecemeal"
fashion
that involves a yearly "contentious debate," the Legislature should
make a
multi-year commitment, he said.
"For too many children, the district schools are failing them and their
families," Antonioni said. "This allows those children and their
parents
immediate relief from non-performing school systems. I think
that that
alone is reason enough to allow this limited opportunity ... to flourish."
Co-chairman Rep. Harold Lane (D-Holden), however, said raising the cap
without having solid evidence of whether the charter school experiment
works would constitute a "rush to judgement." About 60 percent
of charter
schools scored better than their district counterparts on last year's
first
round of MCAS tests, and Lane said the difference isn't significant
enough
to justify granting more charters.
Antonioni called the argument about MCAS scores "gobbledygook," and
said
parents shouldn't have to wait for opponents to be fully satisfied.
"The
problem is that you'll continually have barriers erected that will
prohibit
this, and they'll never give you an endpoint in terms of what they
would
want to see," he said. "These parents have a very limited window
of
opportunity to educate their children. Why do they have to wait?"
Lane contended that the primary attraction of charter schools is the
freedom from bureaucratic rules, and he said the Horace Mann schools,
which
remain connected to the district schools, are already doing that.
"It
seems to me somewhat dishonest not to acknowledge that this is what
we're
doing, to try to achieve it through the back door for a few schools,
rather
than for all district schools."
Many proponents argued that more charter schools are needed to alleviate
the 8,000-student waiting list, but Lane said that's a "fool's paradise"
of
an argument, and pointed out that people always line up to see bad
movies
and eat at bad restaurants when there's been enough hype.
"We hear ad nauseam the projection that we have a waiting list," he
said.
"I don't think that should be the criteria in deciding whether we want
charter schools. That should just be laid aside."
Opponents of charter school expansion say the funding formula is flawed
and
is crippling the ability of sending districts to provide basic services
for
students who remain in the larger system. Many supported a bill
filed by
Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) that would adjust the funding formula
and
prohibit for-profit companies from being involved in charter schools
(S 289).
Pacheco cited a report released Wednesday by the coalition Citizens
for
Public Schools, which found that even after state reimbursements for
charter schools, local districts still lost $42 million this school
year.
Worcester alone lost $4.2 million, which would have been enough to
hire 131
new teachers, Pacheco said, adding that charter schools enjoy a
student-teacher ratio of 18:2.
"Wouldn't it be great if we could have two teachers for every 18 students
throughout the public school system?" he said. "I'm for it.
Let's fund
it. But we don't fund it by taking $42 million away from the
public school
system."
Pacheco's bill would require all charter schools to apply to their local
communities for approval. If the local district approved the
school, it
would be funded locally. If the local district did not approve
it, the
state would pick up the tab, relieving the pressure on the district
school
budget.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association supports Pacheco's bill, saying
that
the current formula "penalizes students who attend the regular public
schools." Julie Johnson, MTA's legislative agent, said the main problem
is
that the formula is calculated according to a district-wide average
that
doesn't take into account the fact that certain students - special
education, bilingual, vocational - cost more to educate.
In Boston, for instance, the cost for educating a special education
student
ranges between $10,000 and $40,000. The cost for educating a
regular
education student, in comparison, is $6,300. Because the
higher special
education and bilingual costs drive up the per-pupil average, the state
pays $8,200 for a student who leaves a district school for a charter
school.
Boston School Superintendent Thomas Payzant said, "I can't have an extra
$2,000 going out the door for every regular education student."
The MTA's Johnson said charter schools don't accept many special education
or bilingual students, which is another, different bone of contention.
"They're taking lower-cost students and they're getting more money
for it,"
she said.